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New Proclamation: Safe Resumption of Global Travel During the COVID-⁠19 Pandemic

25. Oct. 2021

This is an update to our October 15th article.

Today, President Biden signed the new proclamation that will allow international travel by foreign nationals from China, India and much of Europe to finally resume.  Under the new rule, effective November 8th, non-citizens and non-permanent residents visiting the U.S. by air will be allowed to enter provided they are fully vaccinated.  The rule provides numerous exemptions from the vaccination requirement, some of which are below (see section 3(b) of the proclamation for the full list):

  1. anyone for whom, given their age, requiring vaccination would be inappropriate, as determined by the CDC, taking into account global vaccine availability for individuals in that age group.
  2. anyone for whom accepted COVID-19 vaccination is medically contraindicated, as determined by the CDC.
  3. anyone, other than B-1/B-2 travelers, who is a citizen of a foreign country where the availability of COVID-19 vaccination is limited (less than 10% have been fully vaccinated).

Those who are permitted to enter the U.S. via one of the above exemptions must agree to become fully vaccinated against COVID-19 within 60 days of arriving in the U.S. (and must provide proof of having arranged to become fully vaccinated after arriving in the U.S.).  Some exemptions to this are below (see section 2(c) of the proclamation for the full list):

  1. the traveler’s intended stay is sufficiently brief.
  2. COVID-19 vaccination is inappropriate for the traveler’s age, as determined by the CDC.
  3. COVID-19 vaccination is medically contraindicated for the traveler.

In addition to the vaccination requirement, CDC will also adopt pre-flight COVID-19 testing. 

Finally, the Biden administration plans to issue details later this week of its plans to lift restrictions to land border crossings for vaccinated foreign nationals.